U.S. Men's National Team Archives - Sibling Rivalry

Sometimes More is Better: Defending FIFA’s 48-team World Cup

Hal Phillips — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 13:04:08 +0000

Few folks would dare express public admiration for FIFA. Only newly beholden soccer association officials carrying suitcases full cash do that. In fact, open disdain for the Fédération Internationale de Football Association may be the only thing that unites proper fans in all 211 member nations. However, in its unquenchable lust for revenue, FIFA has [...]

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Belgium traps USMNT in Waffle House of Horrors

Hal Phillips — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 15:05:26 +0000

Monday night’s USMNT exit was gutting, but we shouldn’t be too surprised. We knew Tim Ream, for all his qualities, was playing on borrowed time. We knew there a howler coming from such an inexperienced keeper. And we knew there would be massive karmic fallout from Dear Leader’s vainglorious meddling. But I wasn’t expecting the [...]

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US-Belgium Preview: A Single Goal Could Win It — Where will it come from?

Hal Phillips — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 21:17:25 +0000

We’ve barely noticed how well the U.S. back line has played in this tournament, what with distractions like Pulisic’s injury watch, Balogun’s B.S. red card, and a blizzard of American goals. Yet Pochettino’s back three has been superb because it works specifically in context of our midfield five. We may have to shut out the [...]

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A New World Guide to Sensible World Cup Expectations

Hal Phillips — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 18:25:46 +0000

I was rereading and search-engine optimizing some older essays last week, when I came across a column from early October 2017. To be precise, the piece was written two frantic days after the USMNT failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. That remains, you may recall, a dire moment in what I [...]

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USMNT Final Roster Observations & Idle Gossip

Hal Phillips — Wed, 27 May 2026 19:26:45 +0000

It's getting real, folks. The World Cup is but two weeks away. Mauricio Pochettino has issued his final, 26-man U.S. Men’s National Team roster. Here’s what it tells us: Other than Tanner Tessman staying home, no roster surprises — only alignment questions and a couple puzzlers. It seems El Mister is committed to a back [...]

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Depth of Talent is a USMNT Game-changer

Hal Phillips — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 23:19:34 +0000

In assessing the inherent, overall quality of a golf course — not in comparison to another but on its own, in a vacuum — it’s helpful to start at the bottom: What’s the worst hole out there? Out of 18, how many objectively bad or fair-to-middling holes are there really? In other words, what's the [...]

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Envy & Scorn Furnish this Rivalry with Curiously Intimate form of Codependence

Hal Phillips — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 13:42:08 +0000

See below a brief excerpt from Chapter 1 of Sibling Rivalry, 400-odd words that help explain what 200 years of envy and scorn can do to a sporting rivalry. But first, a shout-out to photographer Tony Quinn, whose work is featured throughout the book. This image above captures the unalloyed bliss produced by yet another [...]

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Lee Nguyen, Still a Great Story. But I Had it First!

Hal Phillips — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 08:55:05 +0000

Sometimes, when a fellow journalist publishes or posts a story one wanted for himself, the knee-jerk response is annoyance. But Tom Hindle’s fine September piece on former U.S. Men’s National Team luminary Lee Nguyen, for goal.com, brought a genuine smile to my face — despite the fact that I was poised to write Nguyen’s [...]

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The Canonization of Graham Zusi, Patron Saint

Hal Phillips — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 23:36:01 +0000

Sibling Rivalry Excerpt: From Chapter 3: That morning of the October 2024 friendly down in Guadalajara, we weren't thinking about Graham Zusi, Patron Saint of the North American Derby. Still full of optimzism for US fortunes, my posse of New Englanders headed out for another outdoor brunch on a tropical terrace. Our stomachs well [...]

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Requiem for Match of the Day (and The Sanctity of Unspoiled Endings)

Hal Phillips — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 15:29:21 +0000

There’s a wonderfully prescient exchange in Whit Stillman’s 1990 film, “Metropolitan,” wherein the know-it-all main character is interrogated on all the works of literature he can’t stop referencing. “You don’t have to have read a book to have an opinion on it. I haven’t read the Bible either,” he reveals, by way of defending [...]

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